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We’re Hiring! Now Accepting Applications for Assistant Director

Four Center for Water Policy staff standing together smiling in business casual attire. To the left is a partial view of a vertical banner that reads Collaborative and shows images of water research in Wisconsin, like a scientist in a lab, and researchers performing field work by collecting water samples from a boat and by standing in a stream wearing waders.

The Center forĚýWaterĚýPolicyĚýhas launched a search for an Assistant Director. This is a full-time, non-teaching academic staff position at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences.ĚýThe application deadline is June 16, 2025.

The Assistant Director supports the Director of the Center for Water Policy. The Center brings together teams of faculty, postdocs, graduate and law students, and undergraduates to produce academic articles, reports, policy briefs and communications. The Center’s mission is to provide interdisciplinary solutions to resolve regional, national and international problems related to the protection, restoration and conservation of freshwater resources. The Assistant Director will provide support to the Director in positioning the Center for Water Policy, the School of Freshwater Sciences, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a national and international center of excellence in addressing water policy issues, research and innovation. The Assistant Director will be responsible for managing the administration, financials, budget and human resources for the Center, research and prepare materials for extramural support and sponsorships, coordinate communications and outreach, and contribute to collaborative research initiatives that promote science-based, sustainable water policies within the Great Lakes region and beyond.

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Juris Doctorate
  • 1 year of management, budget, or development experience

Preferred Qualifications:

  • 5 years of management, budget, or development experience
  • Advanced degree relevant to position: MS, MBA, PhD
  • Experience that demonstrates ability to support work environment that embraces people from all backgrounds, collaboration, ethical behavior, and team building
  • Record of progressively responsible leadership and administrative experience, including personnel recruitment, employee management and budget preparation and management
  • Engagement with donors through personal contact
  • Experience with supporting grant writing and reporting
  • Experience navigating complex institutional processes and databases to accomplish organizational priorities
  • Demonstrated record of successful collaboration with multiple partners both academic and non-academic
  • Demonstrated success in program management including carrying out coordinated organization, direction and implementation of projects and activities to achieve defined deliverables and outcomes
  • Demonstrated ability to work successfully with advisory boards and/or governance bodies
  • Experience in water protection such as professional work, volunteering, or coursework

Target Salary Range:

  • $65,000 – $97,000 (Final salary offer contingent upon skills, knowledge, and abilities as they relate to the position)

If interested, please submit a letter of application that addresses your professional level work experience as it relates to all required and preferred qualifications and a resume. Applicants are required to apply online by June 16, 2025. Full position description:

Admin Manager 02349681Download

For more information visit the  and the .

Is the Proposed Dredged Material Management Facility an Opportunity for the Community?

Milwaukee Estuary AOC
Map of proposed DMMF

The Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern spans roughly 10 miles spread across three rivers and includes Milwaukee’s inner and outer harbor. Cleaning this area requires dredging the riverbeds and lakebed to remove contaminated sediment, but where does it go? The plan is to send it to a new Dredged Material Management Facility — an in-lake landfill on the east side of Jones Island, next to the Port of Milwaukee. This approximately $500M historic cleanup should result in extensive benefits to the public.

In 2022, the Center for Water Policy’s published research explained why the Dredged Material Management Facility must be consistent with the state’s public trust doctrine. The Center’s researchers Sarah Martinez and Melissa Scanlan conducted a legal analysis and you may read their published findings, “” in Sea Grant Law & Policy Journal Vol 12:1 (2022).  This research explores the legal issues around this facility including: What is public enough to satisfy the public trust doctrine? Can the state and other developers exclude the public? What are the permissible uses on the newly created 42 acres of lakefront?

You may watch our January 2022 Public Rights in Milwaukee’s Fresh Coast panel discuss this topic and othersĚýĚýand read our short analysis in thisĚýOctober 2022 Public Rights in MKE Fresh Coast Policy Brief (PDF).

We identified the Clean Water Act’s Section 401 Water Quality Certification as a decision point where the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) could require the protection of public trust rights.  The WDNR issued the Certification on October 5, 2023, and included protections for public rights.  You may read our short analysis of the Certification decision in this November 2023 Public Rights Policy Brief (PDF) and link to the decision. 

View the full Water Quality Certification (PDF) here.

Explore the work of Professor James Wasley, the Center for Water Policy’s 2024–2025 Water Policy Scholar, as he examines the future of the Dredged Material Disposal Facility at the Port of Milwaukee. This evolving lakefront site presents an opportunity to create new public space, ecological habitat, and community resilience in the heart of the city. Watch our short video and Earth Day webinar below to see how this local project fits into a broader movement across the Great Lakes to transform post-industrial waterfronts for public good.

New Short Film: Envisioning New Futures for the Lakefront at the Port of MilwaukeeĚý

“We are creating new land here in the heart of the city—in the lake. When it’s finished, years from now, it will become lakefront land. So the question is: what should it be as part of the city? A port facility, a wildlife refuge, a public park—or some mix of the above?” 

Featuring Professor James Wasley, the Center’s 2024–2025 Water Policy Scholar, this short video brings to life his vision for transforming the Dredged Material Disposal Facility at the Port of Milwaukee. It connects this local project to a larger story across the Great Lakes region—where communities are reimagining post-industrial waterfronts as opportunities for public access, ecological restoration, and more resilient, inclusive futures. 

Watch the short video here:

Watch our Earth Day Webinar: 
 

Read more about the Center’s work with the Proposed Dredged Material Management Facility: 
/centerforwaterpolicy/is-the-proposed-dredged-material-management-facility-an-opportunity-for-the-community/ 

Get involved with the Milwaukee Community Advisory Committee!

https://www.cacmke.org/cac-network

School of Freshwater Sciences Graduate Students Provide Water Consulting Services to Wisconsin DNRĚý

Graduate students in Professor Melissa Scanlan’s course  â€ťWater Consulting” at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) to develop actionable strategies for long-term resilience as climate change intensifies flooding and reshapes coastal landscapes along Wisconsin’s Great Lakes shorelines. The two student consulting teams focused on shoreline regulation and inland flooding. One team analyzed strategies for how Wisconsin might determine its 1848 shoreline boundaries, depending on the location, under a new law governing longstanding fill on Great Lakes lakebeds. The second team assessed the growing impacts of inland flooding, especially in underserved communities, and outlined how the WDNR can close insurance gaps and promote mitigation efforts. Their reports offer thorough assessments and provide data-driven recommendations to support the WDNR’s decision-making around permitting, planning, and public outreach.  

Rising Waters, Rising Costs: Understanding Flood Risk, Insurance, & the Price of Inaction report here.  

Great Lakes Shoreline Identification Analysis report here.   

Read the full story here.

School of Freshwater Sciences Graduate Students Provide Water Consulting Services to Wisconsin DNRĚý

Citations: 

Joe McCormack, Cami Armendariz, Frank Ferrante, Evelyn Grimm, and Stephanie Gruenloh, Rising Waters, Rising Costs: Understanding Flood Risk, Insurance, & the Price of Inaction,ĚýUniversity of Wisconsin – Milwaukee PublicationsĚý(2025).

Elizabeth Modahl, Daniel Wroblewski, Dan Vrobel, Mutadhid (Avid) Obaidi, Great Lakes Shoreline Identification Analysis,ĚýUniversity of Wisconsin – Milwaukee PublicationsĚý(2025).

Rising Waters, Rising Costs: Understanding Flood Risk, Insurance, & the Price of InactionDownload
Great Lakes Shoreline Identification Analysis ReportDownload

School of Freshwater Sciences Graduate Students Provide Water Consulting Services to Wisconsin DNRĚý

As coastal land manipulation and flooding increase along Wisconsin’s Great Lakes regions, two graduate student teams at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences have delivered a set of recommendations to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) aimed at building long-term climate resilience. The work was completed through Professor Melissa Scanlan’s “Water Consulting” spring graduate-level course that pairs students with public-sector clients to work on real-world water management challenges. 

“This course is a bridge from graduate school into the workforce,” said Professor Melissa Scanlan, who leads the program. “Students work in teams to develop consulting skills, meet with industry professionals, and produce research with direct policy relevance.” 

This spring, students comprised two teams—the Shoreline Team and the Flood Team —each tackling distinct but interconnected topics to Wisconsin’s communities. Both teams collaborated closely with WDNR staff to craft reports to inform the agency’s planning, permitting, and public engagement efforts. 

Great Lakes Shoreline Identification Analysis 

The Shoreline Team took on a deceptively simple question: where exactly was Wisconsin’s Great Lakes shoreline when it became a state in 1848? 

Under Wisconsin Act 247, a 2023 law regulating the use of “longstanding fill” on Great Lakes lakebeds, this question has taken on new importance.    

Graduate students Elizabeth Modahl, Daniel Wroblewski, Dan Vrobel, and Mutadhid (Avid) Al Obaidi produced their report to navigate this issue. Their goal was to build a flexible, data-driven framework to approximate the statehood-era shoreline—supporting the WDNR’s legal responsibilities while protecting the public’s access to coastal waters. 

The students’ research blended historical lake level data, digital elevation modeling, and analysis of how other Great Lakes states define public trust boundaries. Using digital elevation modeling, they demonstrated how even slight changes in water levels can dramatically shift the shoreline, with visualizations illustrating how these shifts can move the boundary of public trust lands by dozens of feet. “We found no single method works across all landscapes and there are huge gaps in data from 1848,” said Elizabeth Modahl. “The team concluded that shoreline boundaries are best established on site on a case-by-case basis, drawing from the best data available in each location, particularly where historical maps or topography vary,” she added. 

A key takeaway from their comparative research is that no other Great Lakes state has a law like Act 247 and is attempting to identify statehood-era shorelines for current regulatory purposes.  

Rising Waters, Rising Costs: Understanding Flood Risk, Insurance, & the Price of Inaction 

The Flood Team examined the evolving landscape of flood risk in Wisconsin—where intensified storms, outdated infrastructure, and environmental inequities are converging to create a perfect storm of vulnerability across the state. 

Graduate students Joe McCormack, Cami Armendariz, Frank Ferrante, Evelyn Grimm, and Stephanie Gruenloh focused their work on the growing risks posed by increasingly frequent and severe rainfall events. Using a mix of ecological, infrastructure, and socioeconomic data, the team observed Wisconsin’s flood-prone areas, paying special attention to neighborhoods outside FEMA-designated flood zones where flood risk is high, but insurance coverage is rare.  

“These gaps in coverage are often tied to long-standing systemic inequalities in income, housing, and access to information,” according to Cami Armendariz. The team provided side-by-side comparisons of the National Flood Insurance Program and private market policies, pointing out where coverage gaps and confusion still leave many Wisconsinites vulnerable. Their report offers recommendations for where the WDNR can take a more active role in encouraging mitigation strategies that reduce flood risk.    

“We truly appreciate the enthusiasm and the hundreds of hours the students dedicated to these projects. Their recommendations are thought-provoking, and the WDNR looks forward to reviewing them further and taking forward what we can for implementation,” said Michael Thompson, WDNR Southeast Secretary’s Director. 

Is your organization interested in being a client for an upcoming Water Consulting course? Contact Professor Melissa Scanlan at waterpolicy@uwm.edu to discuss whether your research needs would be a good fit. 

Written by Cami Armendariz, Water Policy and Science Communications Fellow, UW-Milwaukee Center for Water Policy 

Water Policy Specialist Peyton McCauley Presents Hidden Environmental Costs of Data Centers and AI at Rutgers Law School

Watch the recorded webinar !

Water Policy Specialist Peyton McCauley of the Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences recently delivered a timely and eye-opening lecture titled “The Hidden Environmental Costs of Data Centers and AI” hosted by Rutgers Law School. Her lecture was a meaningful discussion about the intersection of digital infrastructure, environmental policy, and water governance—encouraging a more critical look at the true cost of AI and data-driven technologies.

The presentation was based on a forthcoming article in the Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal, co-authored by McCauley. The event drew attention to the significant and often-overlooked environmental impacts of data centers—especially their water consumption and strain on natural resources. McCauley presented findings from original research using government records and corporate sustainability reports. Despite widespread corporate sustainability pledges, key data about environmental impacts remains largely inaccessible or obscured from public view. She emphasized the urgent need for greater transparency and accountability from both corporations and government agencies at state and federal levels.

This Guardrails for Green Tech presentation builts on the Center’s research exploring how private ESG reporting assesses AI & data center water use — and exposes limits to transparency.

Read more:  â€” American Bar Association

Center for Water Policy Hosted Earth Day Webinar – Possible Future Uses of New Lakefront at the Port of Milwaukee

Watch the recorded webinar 

The Center for Water Policy hosted an Earth Day webinar featuring James Wasley, Professor at UW-Milwaukee and 2024-2025 Water Policy Scholar. He presented his research on the possible future uses of theĚýDredged Material DisposalĚýFacilityĚýat the Port of Milwaukee. This facility is part of a broader network of dredge-spoil sites across the Great Lakes. He also discussed these newly created lakefront lands in a basin-wide context and included examples of closure and conversion to future public uses in other parts of the Great Lakes.

Building on prior workshops, including the 2019 National Science Foundation Sustainable Urban Systems Workshop and the 2022 Great Lakes Higher Education Consortium Workshop, Prof. Wasley’s research serves as a test case for collaboration among academic researchers, design professionals, and policymakers to develop innovative, nature-based design solutions for Great Lakes cities. In August of 2024, he convened a meeting of experts on issues associated with the dredged material disposal facilities and the future of this research aligns with the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin’s Grand Water Challenge on Great Lakes Management and Restoration.

Prof. Wasley is Director of the Institute for Ecological Design and the former chair of the Department of Architecture. He is the past president of the Society of Building Science Educators and the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance: An Affiliate of the United States Green Building Council. He was a founding member of WGBA in 1997.

This event was co-hosted by the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin and is part of a quarterly online water symposium series in partnership with the Great Lakes Higher Education Consortium and Council of the Great Lakes Region.

Read more about the Center’s work with the Proposed Dredged Material Management Facility: /centerforwaterpolicy/is-the-proposed-dredged-material-management-facility-an-opportunity-for-the-community/

Notre Dame Law School’s Journal on Emerging Technologies Published “Great Lakes Offshore Wind: An Analysis of Coastal Management Planning Tools”Ěý

In 2023, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory identified extensive potential offshore wind resource in the Great Lakes. All eight Great Lakes states have some type of clean, renewable, or alternative energy goal, and five of the eight Great Lakes states have a commitment to reach 100% clean or renewable energy by 2040 or 2050. Offshore wind energy is one resource to achieve these goals. The offshore wind industry expanded quickly off the ocean coasts during the Biden-Harris Administration. In the early days of the Trump Administration, the federal government announced a reversal in federal support for offshore wind, which will reverberate along the ocean coastal states.    

The Great Lakes region presents a different context. The Great Lakes states have not been as influenced by federal offshore wind policy; they were neither spurred to action nor should they be thwarted by changes at the federal level. This is due in part to the federal leasing agency not having the same jurisdiction and authority in the Great Lakes as it has in the oceans. The onus for offshore wind in the Great Lakes rests upon Great Lakes states because they are trustees of the public lakebed and have exclusive jurisdiction over lakebed leasing.    

Thorough planning must precede any development to ensure environmental, social, and financial factors are considered and to determine whether a site is suitable for development. Building on the recommendations for a legal framework we described in a , this article emphasizes the need for thorough planning and identifies existing coastal management tools available to states in that effort. We compare two state-based offshore wind projects as case studies and identify key differences that suggest why one project successfully reached operation while the other stalled out after years of delays. Finally, we explore several options and benefits of regional planning for offshore wind in the Great Lakes. 

This law review article: 

  • Identifies Special Area Management Plans (SAMPs) under the Coastal Zone Management Act as existing legal authority states may use to assess feasibility and suitability of offshore wind development in their waters; 
  • Highlights opportunities and benefits of regional collaboration and planning; and 
  • Recommends that Great Lakes states position themselves for future opportunities arising with the next pendulum swing of attitude at the federal level towards offshore wind. 

Read the research:Ěý
Cora Sutherland and Melissa Scanlan, Great Lakes Offshore Wind: An Analysis of Coastal Management Planning Tools, .

American Bar Association Published “Inside ESG Reporting: Thirsty Data Centers Reveal Limits to Transparency”

Water Policy Specialist Peyton McCauley, Director Melissa Scanlan, and 51ÁÔĆć-SFS Master’s student Dan McLennon recently explored private environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting to assess water consumption of AI and data centers and discuss the limitations.

Article Summary:

  • Companies are using ESG reporting to provide transparency regarding sustainability to
    stakeholders.
  • ESG reporting is part of private environmental governance, driven by NGOs rather than
    governments.
  • We used ESG reports to shed light on the environmental impacts of AI and data centers.
  • The nature of ESG reporting being implemented by private governance limits
    transparency and access.

Read the full article at Ěý

Citation:

Peyton McCauley, Dan McLennon and Melissa Scanlan,ĚýInside ESG Reporting: Thirsty Data Centers Reveal Limits to Transparency,ĚýAmerican Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, Environmental, Social Governance, and Sustainability Committee, (March 5, 2025). ©2025 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission.

Watch New Center for Water Policy Video: “Bringing Back the Giants: Sturgeon Restoration in the Milwaukee Estuary”

The lake sturgeon population in the Great Lakes has dropped to less than 1% of historic numbers, but dedicated efforts are underway to change that from organizations like , the Deng Aquaculture Lab at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, and . From habitat restoration to research on alternative dietary methods and passionate community efforts, local groups are collaborating to revive these ancient giants and restore their place in our waters for generations to come. This short film exhibits a story of progress for lake sturgeon restoration efforts in the . Watch below to learn more.

Learn more about Riverkeeper’s work throughout the Milwaukee River Basin: . 

Learn more about sturgeon conservation at Riveredge Nature Center: . 

Clean up efforts are underway in the Milwaukee Estuary AOC, and dredged legacy contaminants have to go somewhere. Check out our prior research on the Dredged Material Management Facility for the AOC clean up, and what the Public Trust Doctrine requires, here: /centerforwaterpolicy/is-the-proposed-dredged-material-management-facility-an-opportunity-for-the-community/.

For more information about the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern, visit:Ěý.

For more information on Dr. Dong-Fang Deng’s research and her aquaculture lab at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, visit: /freshwater/people/deng-dong-fang/

Read more about lake sturgeon throughout Wisconsin in Paul A. Smith, “What is Wisconsin’s most important fish? A good case could be made for the lake sturgeon,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Jan. 29, 2025) .